Indians have for long considered the Indian Ocean to be India’s Ocean. This thinking obviously necessitated the far flung outposts in the Indian Ocean being considered as an essential part of the Indian defence network in the region. As far back as in 1945 outstanding Indian military strategist K. M. Pannikar concluded that ‘the strategic unity of India, Ceylon and Burma was one of the prerequisites to a realistic policy of Indian defence.’

The late Prof. Shelton Kodikara in his book on Indo-Ceylon relations since Independence points out that Jawaharlal Nehru in 1945 too had supported the view that Ceylon would inevitably be drawn in ‘presumably as an autonomous unit of the Indian Federation.’ Nehru, however, had repudiated such views later on, Kodikara notes.

British Lake  

Before and after World War II the Indian Ocean was a de facto British lake but with the withdrawal of the British east of Suez in the ’60s the United States took control, much to the consternation of India which tilted towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War. At this time India promoted the concept of the Indian Ocean Peace Zone (IOPZ) which Sri Lanka, wittingly or unwittingly posed as proxy proposed to the world.

The end of the Cold War made the IOPZ irrelevant with the end of the superpower rivalry in the Indian Ocean. Now the two emergent powers, China and India are in competition for dominance of the ocean and the region itself although the United State’s Pacific Fleet overshadows the region.

Indian visit

Last week Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony led a high powered delegation to the Maldives and held talks with Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed on the defence of the archipelago. This strategically placed archipelago of atolls is in the mid Indian Ocean between South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In the mid ’80s its vulnerability was exposed when the Sri Lankan terrorist group PLOTE took over the capital Male and an appeal by the Maldives to New Delhi resulted in an Indian task force bringing the situation under control and handing it over to the Maldivian authorities.

Defending Maldives  

Reports from Male said that the two sides discussed the threat of terrorism in the region and the installation by India of a ground radar network in all its atolls which would be linked to the Indian coastal command. Other discussions featured the Indian navy coast guard patrolling the waters off the Maldives. 

There was speculation that India was seeking a naval base in the Maldives but Indian Commodore Uday Baskar, defence analyst and Director of the National Maritime Foundation was quoted by al Jazeera saying that he did not believe India was planning to commit itself to such a costly undertaking.

But there are some former abandoned British naval bases in the archipelago such as the former base on Gan Island which the Soviet Union too had wanted in the 1970s but was refused by the Maldives. Speculation is that the Indians are eyeing Gan Island.

Chinese expansion

India as an emergent naval power is considered to be looking at the growing Chinese presence in the region and analysts say that recent Chinese investments in the region that was considered to be under the Indian sphere of influence would now inspire India to enter the fray.

China has made huge investments in East Africa — Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya and is also helping to develop major ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. This chain of ports have been described as the String of Pearls of China, the latest of which is the Hambantota Port now under construction and estimated to cost one billion dollars.

While after five decades of planning India has acquired the ability to build and operate a nuclear powered submarine the likes of which only five other countries have, the submarine under construction, INS Arahat will be undergoing tests for another two years before it will be commissioned into the Indian navy.

Reports said that a few months back China paraded its nuclear capability with nuclear powered sub-marines at the 60th Anniversary of the Peoples’ Liberation Army. China is now considered to have the third largest navy behind the US and Russia and is qualitatively and quantitatively ahead of the Indians.

Chinese officials, some commentators have noted, now openly speak of the need of nuclear submarines in the national interest. The PLA General Logistics Department Director has been quoted saying that ‘We can no longer accept the Indian Ocean as only an ocean of the Indians.’

Strategic importance

The Indian Ocean region has today become perhaps the most strategically important region in the world. One quarter of the world’s oil supplies flows from the Gulf into the Indian Ocean. Commuters and other vitally important industrial products are now being manufactured in the region as never before and find its passage through these sea ways while terrorism as well as Islamic extremism are abound in countries bordering the region.  

The outcome of Chinese dominance and an increasing Indian presence is hard to predict. India’s developing strategic relations with the US will also be a significant factor with Defence Secretary Robert Gates expressing hope in Singapore last month that they expect India to be a partner in providing security to the Indian Ocean and beyond.